Integral fault detection system for operating electronics equipment

ABSTRACT

An alarm or fault detection system for in service electronic equipment which is not electrically connected to the equipment is disclosed. A chemical tracer element which is responsive to the application of a certain force, physical stress, electrical stress, or heat, for example, is embedded in the equipment or portion thereof that is to be monitored. When the equipment&#39;&#39;s functional tolerance limit of the certain force is reached, the tracer element is released in a gaseous form. Presence of the tracer element&#39;&#39;s vapors in the equipment enclosure is detected by a transducer which responds to a particular vapor representing a particular component or equipment malfunction and indicates it to an observer.

United States Patent 1 1 Tomlin, J r.

1 51 Feb. 6, 1973 [54] INTEGRAL FAULT DETECTION Technique for the Detection of Wear, Cucchiaro et SYSTEM FOR OPERATING al., May, 1967, pp. 109-117. ELECTRONICS EQUIPMENT Primary Examiner.lames W. Lawrence [76] Inventor: Garland L. Tomlin, Jr., 2342 N. Assistant Examiner Davis Lwmis Oak Street Falls Church Attorney-Edgar J. Brower and Thomas 0. Watson, 22046 h [22] Filed: June 12, 1969 1 A 1 N 832 565 [57] ABSTRACT 2 .1 1 pp An alarm or fault detection system for in service electronic equipment which is not electrically connected [52] US. Cl. ..250/l06 T to the equipment is disclosed, A chemical tracer ele- [51] Int. Cl. ..G2lh 5/02 ment which is responsive to the application of a cer- [58] Field of Search.....250/83, 83.3, 83.6 FT, 106 T, tain force, physical stress, electrical stress, or heat, for 250/435 R example, is embedded in the equipment or portion thereof that is to be monitored. When the equipments 5 R f r n it d functional tolerance limit of the certain force is reached, the tracer element is released in a gaseous UNITED STATES PATENTS form. Presence of the tracer clements vapors in the 1,517,861 12/1924 Rosher ..250/l06 if z fdetlected by a ansqucer 3,247,382 4/1966 Schneider ..250/l06X 9 65pm S F represeitng a particular component or equipment malfunction and OTHER PUBLICATIONS indicates it to an observer.

Materials Evaluation, Kryptonates; A New 8 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures 2 5 I POWER SOURCE E5! 1 ill PAIENTEUFEB 61973 3. 7-1 5, 598

sum 1 or 2 ll 5o-2oo am-200T? I "It I I] v l FRONT PANEL 6 POWER I I *i ELECT SOURCE l \U HSI FII RONIC H, I

in ELECTRONIC EQUIP. n,

FIG. 2

RESISTOR CONDUCTOR FIG. 3

. INVENTOR GARLAND L. 7' OML/NMR BY JAM 0.

ATTORNEY INTEGRAL FAULT DETECTION SYSTEM FOR OPERATING ELECTRONICS EQUIPMENT STATEMENT OF GOVERNMENT INTEREST The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for-Government of the United States of America for governmental purposes without the payment of anyroyalties thereon or therefor.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to test systems for reporting the state of performance of operating electronic equipment, and more particularly, to test systems that .provide malfunction information to an operator without being physically connected to the equipment being monitored.

Built-in or'on-line test equipment is well known in the art for providing qualitative and quantitative information relating to the operational performance of the equipment being tested. To provide this information however, this test equipmentsrequires test point access to the monitored equipment'and a wiring harness to I v facilitate the attachment of the built-in or on-line test equipment. These integral and associated test systems usually can only'isolate to a system's component level, such as to the black box level. The limitations of builtin test equipment arise from the requirement foradditional space to accommodate the installation thereby precluding use of this space to increase operating capability of the system and increasing system operating weight. Further, there is.a reduction insystemoperating reliability because of design requirements for test points that may necessitate circuit design changes.

To accommodate the requirements of test point circuits and the desired degreeof malfunction isolation is a difficult engineering task because of 'thefforegoin'g factors'of design circuit changes and the consideration of weight and space accommodations.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION The presentinvention requires no test point access to the equipment being monitored, occupies a minimum of space, and has negligible weight. The equipment OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION Anobject of this invention is to provide a method and apparatus for equipment malfunction detection for functioning electrical equipment which does not require an electrical connection to the equipment being monitored.

A further object of this invention is to provide an equipment malfunction detection system for functioning electronic equipment which does not require an electrical connection to the equipment being monitored and which requires a minimum of installation space and is of negligible weight.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a method and apparatus for equipment malfunction detection and indication for operating electronic equipment which does not require an electrical connection to the equipment being monitored and which generates negligible heat during its monitoring mode.

Another object of this invention is to provide a method and apparatus for equipment malfunction detection and indication for operating electronic equipment which does not require an electrical connection to the equipment being monitored and which is capable of isolating themalfunction to a particular circuit component. v

Otherobjects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered inconjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEFDESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 illustrates a typical front panel of electronic equipment;

FIG. 2 illustrates a side view of the electronic equipment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates a resistor; 1

FIG. 4 illustrates a printed circuit board; and

FIG. 5 illustrates a computer module which is being tested for the occuranee of failure within it.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIG. 1, reference is made to fault warning light 1 of FIG. 1 Upon the occurance of a malfunction within the equipment of FIG. I thelight 1 will glow 'in a characteristic color indicating to a'nearby operato that a fault has occurred.

As shown in FIG. 2, the malfunction sensor 2 is located within the component enclosure of the functioning electronic equipment. Malfunction sensor 2 can be a vapor or gas sensor such as is well known in the art fault or malfunction condition exists'in a'certain component or subcomponent of the equipment. The gas or vapor detector which serves as the ultimate malfunction indicator may be mounted within the equipment monitored or may be hand carried. The equipment malfunction detection means which is intimately asand which utilizes vapor absorbing crystals that change their conductivity upon having absorbed a vapor having certain characteristics. As can be seen from FIG. 2, malfunction sensor 2 requires a power source connected by way of lines 3, which will actuate malfunction indicator light 1 upon the sensor 2 sensing the tracer element emitted gas vapors. The power source 4 for malfunction sensor 2 does not have'to be part of the functioning electronic equipment but could, for example, consist of storage bateries. The tracer element which is the actual failure or malfunction detection means will be located on capacitor 6 or resistor 5, for

example. Upon failure of these subcomponents, it will change state emitting a characteristic vapor that is of course detected by malfunction sensor 2.

It should also be noted that more than one malfunction sensor may be used per monitored equipment. If more than one sensor is used, each malfunction sensor would have its own characteristic warning light responsive to the sensor absorbing the vapor emitted from a characteristic tracer element which would be embodied within the subcomponent being monitored.

FIG. 3 illustrates the body and connecting portions of a standard circuit resistor. The tracer element utilized to detect the malfunction of this resistor could be impregnated into the. coating covering the body of the resistor or simply coating the body of the resistor or its conductor connecting elements. The resistor could be coated by the simplemeans of dipping the entire resistor into a special lacquer solution which has suspended in it minute particles of malfunction responsive tracer elements.

FIG. 4 illustrates a standard type of printed circuit board 7 having printed circuit conducting paths 8 and mounted upon it various electricalv subcomponents such as resistor 9. The entire printed circuit board with all its subcomponents could be dipped into the special lacquer solution. .Or just the subcomponent, such as resistor 9, may be coated. 'In this manner, the entire circuit board or just the subcomponent will be monitored for malfuction.

FIG. illustrates a printed circuit computer module 13 in which there is a multitude of printed circuit boards 7 each performing a particular function required of a computer module. Each printed circuit board may be impregnated or coated with a tracer element having a different characteristic vapor upon its change of state. The failure of a particular circuit board can thus be detected by the vapor sensor 11 and a detection indicated by light 12 both of which are incorof this invention could be used not only for printed circuit boards but also for miniturized circuitry such as used in intergrated circuit components.

FIGS. 1 through 5 illustrate the various applications of the equipment malfunction sensing element in association with the malfunction detection element of the invention- I The equipment malfunction detection element or tracer element that-is incorporated into the component or subcomponent of the electronic equipment to be monitored can beany. of a variety of amine salts that are temperature responsiveand decompose into their various components giving off characteristic vapors which may be detected. The variety of amine salts available for thispurpose is immense. As an example of one type of amine salt that may be used for the instant invention, reference is made to US. Pat. No. 3,185,733 which discloses an amine saltof trimetaphosphenic acid. The methods of detecting amine vapors are well known in the art. As one example of such a method, reference. is made to U.S. Pat. No. 3,025,142 which shows a solid chemical responsive to amine gas vapors which changes its color to indicate the presence of amine. vapors. Other methods of detecting amine vapors are available. Reference is made to Volume 1, pages 429-440 of -Molecular.Crystals published in 1966 which, discloses crystaline structures responsive to amine gas vapors so as to change their conductive characteristics upon absorption of such vapors.

The invention is not restricted to the use of amine salts or amine vapor gas detectors for detecting equipment malfunction and sensing equipment failure. A great variety of mildly radioactive materials are available which may be incorporated with a vehicle that is used to coat the particular component or subcomponent to be monitored. This mildly radioactive tracer material will be released and result in an increase radioactivity detected upon an equipment malfunction, such as'excessive heat or stress, occurring in a particular component or subcomponent. This increase in radioactive action will and can be detected by the various and well known radiation counters available in the art, and still remain at a level of unquestionable safety.

As can thus be seen, the equipment malfunction detector which is responsive to the failure mode of the particular equipment component being monitored has physical but not electrical contact with the component, therefore removing the problems of designing test points into the electronic equipment. Also, the weight and volume assumed by a thin coating of this malfunction detection element is negligible as compared to the weight and volume of monitoring equipment requiring circuit test points for its operation. The malfunction sensor, whether it be a vapor sensor or a radiation counter of the giger type, may be mounted in proximity to the particular component or subcomponent to be monitored, or may be hand carried and used as a detector for a large number of equipment components.

Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in the light of the above teachings. 1

What is claimed is:

I I. A method of detecting and indicating occurrence of a malfunction in operating electrical equipment comprising the steps of:

associating a radioactive material in afirst state which is responsive to equipment malfunction by changing to a second state, withequipment to be monitored for-malfunction;

sensing said change of state upon the occurrence of said equipment malfunction; and 1 indicating an equipment malfunction in response to said sensing. l 2. The method of claiml wherein the step of associating comprises the step of associating a radioactive material which is a solid in the first state.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of sensing comprises the step of sensing a vapor which is the second state of the radioactive material.

4. The method for detecting and indicating occurance of a malfunction recited in claim '3 wherein said material is associated with said equipment by painting a solution containing said material suspended in a vehicle onto said equipment.

5. The method for detecting and indicating occurance of a malfunction recited in claim 3 wherein said material is associated with said equipment by embedding said material in the equipment structure.

6. An equipment malfunction detection-and warning system for functioning electrical equipment comprisan electrical equipment component; 1

a radioactive malfunction sensing means incorporated in a solid state with the electrical equip ment component for changing to a vapor state in response to an equipment malfunction; and

a radiation detector means in proximity with said equipment component responsive to the changed state of said radioactive malfunction sensing,

means for indicating a malfunction of said component. 

1. A method of detecting and indicating occurrence of a malfunction in operating electrical equipment comprising the steps of: associating a radioactive material in a first state which is responsive to equipment malfunction by changing to a second state, with equipment to be monitored for malfunction; sensing said change of state upon the occurrence of said equipment malfunction; and indicating an equipment malfunction in response to said sensing.
 1. A method of detecting and indicating occurrence of a malfunction in operating electrical equipment comprising the steps of: associating a radioactive material in a first state which is responsive to equipment malfunction by changing to a second state, with equipment to be monitored for malfunction; sensing said change of state upon the occurrence of said equipment malfunction; and indicating an equipment malfunction in response to said sensing.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of associating comprises the step of associating a radioactive material which is a solid in the first state.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of sensing comprises the step of sensing a vapor which is the second state of the radioactive material.
 4. The method for detecting and indicating occurance of a malfunction recited in claim 3 wherein said material is associated with said equipment by painting a solution containing said material suspended in a vehicle onto said equipment.
 5. The method for detecting and indicating occurance of a malfunction recited in claim 3 wherein said material is associated with said equipment by embedding said material in the equipment structure.
 6. An equipment malfunction detection and warning system for functioning electrical equipment comprising: an electrical equipment component; a radioactive malfunction sensing means incorporated in a solid state with the electrical equipment component for changing to a vapor state in response to an equipment malfunction; and a radiation detector means in proximity with said equipment component responsive to the changed state of said radioactive malfunction sensing means for indicating a malfunction of said component.
 7. The system of claim 6 wherein the radioactive malfunction sensing means is impregnated into the covering of the electrical equipment component. 